Soil & Tillage Research 169 (2017) 138–145

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Soil & Tillage Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/still

Research paper

Image processing technique to assess the use of sugarcane pith to

mitigate clayey soil cracks: Laboratory experiment
A.A. Abd El-Halim
Department of Soil and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tanta, 31527 Tanta, Egypt

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 13 February 2016 Rapid transport of water and solutes through desiccation soil cracks can lead to crop water and nutrient
Received in revised form 17 January 2017 stress. The challenge of irrigation management of cracking soils is to take advantage of the rapid water
Accepted 21 February 2017 intake rate of a dry, cracked soil, while keeping plant water stress at a minimum. Therefore, mitigation
Available online xxx not suppression of desiccation cracks is imperative and considered our objective of this study. A
laboratory experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of sugarcane pith additive on mitigating
Keywords: desiccation cracks, the volumetric shrinkage strain, the total porosity, and water retention at field
Shrinkage capacity of clay soils. The clay soil was treated with the sugarcane pith at dosages of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% on dry
Water holding capacity
weight basis. Various experimental methods were used to determine the variations in volumetric
Soil cracking behavior
shrinkage, total porosity and water retention at field capacity. The characteristics of crack patterns were
Sugarcane pith
studied using an image processing technique. Compared with the untreated soil, the results showed that
the sugarcane pith can increase the total porosity and water content at field capacity, while reducing
volumetric shrinkage strain, and consequently, mitigating the development of desiccation cracks.
Therefore, results suggested that the modification of clayey soil by the addition of the sugarcane pith by
rates up to 2% on dry weight basis can be a viable and innovative method to mitigate the development of
desiccation cracks. In addition, this application will enhance recycling efforts by converting sugarcane
pith waste into usable amendment to mitigate cracks in clayey soil.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Clay soils contain silicate clay minerals that have the potential
for swelling and shrinkage under changing moisture contents.
Shrinkage and swelling cause a very common field phenomenon,
namely, cracks, which can negatively affect soil performance in
geotechnical, agricultural and environmental applications (Jianhua
et al., 2015). Specifically, the geometric structure of cracks changes
the migration process of soil moisture and nutrients, leading to
crop water and nutrient stress, and thus can significantly affect the
growth and yield of crops (Römkens and Prasad, 2006). The
challenge of irrigation management of cracking soils is to take
advantage of the rapid water intake rate of a dry, cracked soil, while
keeping plant water stress at a minimum (Mitchell and van
Genuchten, 1993). Therefore, mitigation and not suppression of
desiccation cracks is an imperative to reach this objective.
Considerable work has been done to study the physical phenome-
non of cracking in clay soils experimentally (e.g., Abu-Hejleh and
Znidarcic, 1995; Hasibul et al., 2013; Kishné et al., 2010; Li and
E-mail address: halim.ismail@agr.tanta.edu.eg (A.A. Abd El-Halim).
Zhang, 2011; Morris et al., 1992; Miller et al., 1998; Nahlawi and
Kodikara, 2006; Tang et al., 2008; Tang et al., 2011a,b; Yesiller et al.,
2000).
The necessary factors or the key parameters that can explain the
development and extent of desiccation cracking are water loss,
mechanical effect and shrinkage potential, as they control the
initiation and propagation of desiccation cracks (Tang et al., 2011a,
2012; Wu, 2014). To characterize the crack patterns quantitatively,
crack patterns, e.g., the number of crack intersections, the number
of crack segments, the total length of cracks, the average width of
cracks and surface crack ratio or crack intensity factor have been
used for this purpose (Atique and Sanchez, 2011; Hasibul et al.,
2013; Kodikara et al., 2002; Tang et al., 2010, 2011b, 2012).
Several chemicals such as synthetic polymer soil conditioners
have been used to improve soil physical properties, namely
increase the amount of water-stable aggregates, reduce tensile
strength, bulk density, surface compaction and clay dispersion,
consequently, mitigate desiccation cracks of clay soil (Mamedov
et al., 2010; Lehrsch et al., 2012; Li et al., 2014; Inbar et al., 2015).
However, synthetic polymers have not been commercially used in
agriculture, partly because of economic considerations and partly
as a result of the incomplete understanding of complex polymer-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2017.02.007
0167-1987/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 A.A. Abd El-Halim / Soil & Tillage Research 169 (2017) 138–145 139

soil interactions (Sojka et al., 2007). Due to these limitations, with an average of 26.43% (Azam, 2014; Abd-Allah et al., 2009). The
exploring alternative methods is imperative. The use of compost soil samples were collected, air-dried, crushed, and sieved through
derived from numerous crop residues and agricultural by-products a 2 mm sieve (ASTM No. 10). The primary chemo-physical
as natural amendments offers a promising low cost alternative properties of the studied soil are illustrated in Table 1, and were
method and enhances recycling applications of waste materials determined using the appropriate methods as described in
(Aguilar et al., 2004; Anand Puppala et al., 2006; Intharasombat (Haluschak, 2006).
et al., 2007).
Sugarcane stalk consists of two parts, an inner pith containing 2.2. Sugarcane pith
most of the sucrose, and an outer rind with lignocellulosic fibers
(Lee and Mariatti, 2008). The rind is made up of a hard fibrous The sugarcane pith was obtained locally from sugarcane juice
substance surrounding a central core of pith, which is soft due to a shops after separating the outer rind. Then it was air dried, gently
spongy structured component (Wirawan et al., 2010). During sugar crushed, passed through a 1-mm sieve (ASTM No. 18), and stored in
processing, the sugarcane stalk is crushed to extract the sucrose airtight containers to avoid pre-hydration until usage. The primary
yielding a large volume of bagasse residue, which contains both chemo-physical properties of the studied sugarcane pith are
crushed rind and pith fiber (Samariha and Khakifirooz, 2011). illustrated in Table 1, and were determined using the appropriate
Bagasse, which contains about 30–40% pith, is used as an methods as described in (Estefan et al., 2013).
alternative to wood pulp for making fibrous products, such as
paper and board (Rainey, 2012). In paper industry, depith bagasse 2.3. Preparation of soil-pith mixture treatments
for separating pith is a common practice that ensures clean fibers
to produce paper with high quality (Xing, 2010). Therefore, the pith The sugarcane pith was blended with the soil to prepare five
of bagasse has always been considered as a raw material for soil-pith mixtures (each mixture one kilogram). The soil-pith
papermaking factories. Recently, depithing occurs at the sugar mill mixture treatments were 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5% on a dry weight basis,
to reduce raw bagasse transport costs. In most cases the removed respectively, in addition to 0% of the sugarcane pith, which refers to
sugarcane pith is then used as fuel for the boilers in these factories the soil not treated with sugarcane pith (the control treatment). All
(Rainey, 2012). mixtures were prepared manually and proper care was taken to
Over the past decades, for measurements of crack patterns, homogenize mixtures.
most studies focused on measurements at the field scale (Ringrose-
Voase and Sanidad, 1996; Novak, 1999), but with the development 2.4. Laboratory analyses
of computers, opportunities have become available for analyzing
measurements using image processing techniques because they 2.4.1. Water retention at field capacity (FC)
imply advantages based on rapid, accurate and non-destructive Water retention at field capacity (FC) was determined at
quantification (Tang et al., 2010, 2011b, 2012; Jianhua et al., 2015; 0.33 bar using the pressure plate apparatus (Soil Moisture
Liu et al., 2013; Vogel et al., 2005; Yan et al., 2002). Equipment Corp., Santa Barbara, CA, USA) (Estefan et al., 2013).
Identifying better utilization of sugarcane pith instead of
combustion is necessary. Therefore, it is hypothesized that 2.4.2. Volumetric shrinkage strain (Vs) and total soil porosity(Pt)
sugarcane pith is one of the recycled materials that can provide Volumetric shrinkage strain (Vs) tests were conducted using the
benefits on the physical properties similar to compost materials American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM, 2007)
and stabilize clay soils in order to mitigate desiccation cracks, since standardized method D4943-02 with some modifications as
it is rich in nutrients. Moreover, as a spongy material, exhibiting follows: Approximately 150 g of the natural soil or soil-pith
moisture affinity characteristics, it offers numerous advantages in mixture samples were mixed with distilled water until the mass
comparison with other crop residues because its ash content became a smooth thick homogeneous paste. After that, it was
(about 2.4%) is low (Pandey et al., 2000). Moreover, the sugarcane placed in an airtight container for 24 h to enable the water to
pith has a large surface area, and consequently, is a very penetrate through the sample. The prepared sample was placed in
hygroscopic material, able to absorb water up to 20–30 times its a greased aluminum cylinder with a volume of 50 cm3 in three
own weight (Lois-Correa, 2012; Rainey, 2012). In addition, the
sugarcane pith is available in large quantity and free or at a low
price (the local price is 13 $ ton
1) at sugar factories or sugarcane Table 1
Primary physical and chemical properties of the study clayey soil and sugarcane
juice shops. However, no studies were either available or
pith.
conducted to address this application of sugarcane pith to stabilize
clay soils in order to mitigate surface desiccation cracks. In this Soil Sugarcane pith
research, an attempt was made for the first time to quantify Property Value Property Value
experimentally the beneficial effect of applying the sugarcane pith Bulk density (g cm
3) 1.27 Bulk density (g cm
3) 0.43
as an organic amendment on mitigating desiccation cracks of Particle density (g cm
3) 2.78 Particles size (mm) <1
clayey soil under proper laboratory environment. Total porosity (%) 54.32 pH (Soil paste) 6.64
Field capacity (%) 37.57 EC (dS m
1) 1.44
pH (soil paste extracts) 7.76 Total N (%) 0.48
2. Materials and methods Electrical conductivity (EC) (dS m
1) 1.23 Total P (%) 0.39
Consistency limit Total K (%) 0.99
2.1. Soil samples Liquid limit, wL (%) 68.57 Organic carbon (%) 56.55
Plastic limit, wP (%) 34.63 C/N ratio 118:1
Shrinkage limit, wS (%) 20.37
Clay soil samples were collected from the top soil layer (20 cm)
Plasticity index, PI (%) 33.94
on January 2015 from Desouk city. It belongs to Kafr el-Sheikh
Governorate, Egypt, (latitude 3180 3200 N, longitude 30 380 4200 E, and Mechanical analysis
the altitude is nine meters above sea level). The main clay minerals Sand (%) 18.66
composition of the studied soil is smectite (Na-montmorillonite) Silt (%) 34.23
Clay (%) 47.11
and kaolinite. The smectite ranges from 62.68% to 85.04% with an Soil type Clay
average of 73.42%, while Kaolinite varies from 14.96% to 37.32%
140 A.A. Abd El-Halim / Soil & Tillage Research 169 (2017) 138–145
layers and tapped against a flat surface in between the layering to
remove air bubbles from the sample. Then the samples were dried
in the air for four hours and placed in an oven at 105  C for 18 h.
After the drying process, five samples without cracks from each
treatment were selected and allowed to cool in a desiccator. The
volume change of the sample from wet to oven dry was measured
with the sand method (Tariful et al., 1999) with some modifications
as follows: bulk samples of sand were collected from Baltim, Kafr
el-Sheikh, Egypt. The samples were then cleaned, sieved through a
212 mm sieve (ASTM-E11 No. 70), poured into a graduated
measuring cylinder to a certain level, and allowed to dry with
the selected five samples without cracks in an oven at 105  C for
18 h again. Immediately after the drying process, the dried sand
was slowly poured into the aluminum cylinder that contained the
dried sample, without allowing it to cool in a desiccator, until the
aluminum cylinder was completely filled up by the sand. Then its
volume was measured. During this process the aluminum cylinder
was knocked gently several times to ensure proper filing of the
sand. To avoid hydration, the aluminum cylinder with the dried
sand and soil sample was returned into the oven at 105  C for eight
hours again. After that, and directly, the top of the aluminum
cylinder was leveled to remove excess sand using a sharp and thin
knife. Its volume was then measured using a graduated cylinder.
Finally, the volume change of the samples from wet to oven dry
was measured by the difference between the volume of sand that
was used to fill the aluminum cylinder that contained the dried
sample and the volume of excess sand that was removed. The
volume changes of five replicates were used to determine the
volumetric shrinkage strains. The volumetric shrinkage strain (Vs,
%) is defined as the change in volume (DV) to the total volume of
the soil specimen (V) (%), expressed by Eq. (1):
Vs = (DV/ V)  100%.
By using the available data from measuring the volumetric
shrinkage strain, the soil bulk density (Db) was calculated by
dividing dry weight of the soil by the total volume of the aluminum
cylinder (50 cm3). Subsequently total soil porosity (Pt) was
calculated using the particle density of the studied soil (2.78 g
cm
3) expressed by the following equation (Bhogal et al., 2009):
Pt (%) = [1
(Db/2.78)]  100
2.4.3. Desiccation cracking test
Desiccation cracking test was conducted as outlined by Tang
et al. (2011a) with some modification as follows: The natural soil or
Fig. 1. Digital image processing results of crack pattern.
various soil-pith mixtures samples were mixed with the distilled
water at water content of approximately 58%. A quantity of mixture
for each sample was poured into square plastic tray (length,
100 mm; width, 100 mm; height, 20 mm) to a controlled layer
thickness of 15 mm. Five trays from each treatment were prepared
for this test. Then trays were placed on a vibration device for 5 min
to remove entrapped air bubbles. After that, they remained
covered for at least 24 h for sedimentation. Then they air dried on a
laboratory table at an approximately constant temperature
(29  2  C, relative humidity of 60  4%, RH) for 28 days. During
drying, the trays were weighed to an accuracy of 0.01 g to record
the water loss at weekly intervals, and the corresponding water
content can be therefore determined. The drying period ended
after 28 days when the weight of trays was stabilized.
2.4.4. Image processing and crack characteristic extraction
To obtain the morphologies of the cracks after drying, a digital
camera SONY DSC-T77 MKM, 10.1 mega pixels was installed on a
fixed experimental platform. The lens of the digital camera faced
vertically downward and was 1 m above the floor; a 100 mm
 100 mm square area was determined by the projection of the
camera lens on the floor at the center to ensure that the geometric
distortion effect was the same for all the samples during the
photographing process. Three trays with soil cracks from each
treatment were used for the photographic process to obtain the
digital image. In order to extract the geometric characteristics of
crack patterns, digital image processing techniques were used as
described by Jianhua et al. (2015). ImageJ ver. 1.47 program was
used as follows: Firstly, the color photo of each tray was geometry
corrected applying polynomial methods by using the main tool
“Analysis”, then the command “Set Scale”, and then cropped by
using the rectangular selection and the main tool “Image”,
(1)
followed by the command “Crop” (Fig. 1a). Secondly, the color
image of each cracked tray was transformed into a grayscale image
by using the main tool “Image”, then the command “Type”,
followed by the subcommand “8-bit” (Fig. 1b). Third, the grayscale
image was binarizated using a black and white threshold by using
the main tool “Image”, then the command “Adjust”, followed by
the subcommand “threshold” (Fig. 1c) and then inversed by using
the main tool “Edit”, then the command “Invert” (Fig. 1d),
(2)
indicating that the crack pattern of each tray was segmented into
aggregates (black areas) and crack areas (white areas). Fourth, the
traditional open operation was performed with a given threshold
of 50 pixels in order to reduce the small white spots over the
aggregates by using the main tool “Process”, then the command
 A.A. Abd El-Halim / Soil & Tillage Research 169 (2017) 138–145 141

“Noise”, followed by the subcommand “Remove Outliers”. These

spots were considered as the noises in the binary image (Fig. 1e).
Fifth, a crack fusing method was then proposed to repair the cracks.
Accurately, a dilation operation was applied to the binary image to
eliminate the narrow space with the distance smaller than 20
pixels between the cracks by using the main tool “Process”, then
the command “Noise”, followed by the subcommand “Remove
Outliers” (Fig. 1f). Ideally, after “thresholding”, all cracked portions
would be depicted as white pixels and soil as black pixels (Fig. 1f),
the surface area of the cracked portion (As) was measured by using
the main tool “Analysis”, then the command “Measure”. Subse-
quently, the surface crack ratio (RSC, %), which is the ratio of the
surface cracks area (As) to the total surface area (At, 100 cm2) of the
tray, was defined to quantify crack networks at different sugarcane
pith percentages, and calculated by the following Eq. (3): Fig. 2. The relationship between total porosity (Pt) and sugarcane pith percentage;
error bar is denotes the standard deviation; the small different letters (a, b, c and d)
RSC = (As/At)  100%. (3) are denoting a significant difference between mean values (Tukey’s test, p  0.001).

Afterwards, a skeletonization algorithm was applied by using

respectively, whereas the 4 and 5% soil-pith mixture treatments
the main tool “Process”, then the command “Binary”, followed by
leap-jumped to 6.57 and 7.33%, respectively. The Tp is highly
the subcommand “Skeletonize”. Thereafter, one-pixel-wide skel-
correlated with sugarcane pith content (R2 = 0.96). However, the
etons of the cracks were obtained by using the main tool “Process”,
statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference
then the command “Binary”, followed by the subcommand “Dilate”
between the 1 and 2% soil-pith mixture treatments and the control
(Fig. 1g). Finally, another threshold of 30 pixels was selected to clip
treatment. Also, there occurred no significant differences between
the spurs with length smaller than 30 pixels, which were
the 4 and 5% soil-pith mixture treatments. It is obvious that the
considered as noises generated during the skeletonization by
used sugarcane pith exhibited a beneficial effect towards modify-
using the main tool “Process”, then the command “Noise”, followed
ing the total soil porosity. In this respect, bulking agents such as
by the subcommand “Remove Outliers” (Fig. 1h). The crack length
sugarcane bagasse, where the pith is part of, does not only improve
(CL) was determined by counting pixels based on the binary
soil porosity, but also provides a carbon source since it is high in
skeleton of crack patterns (Fig. 1h). The crack length (CL) was
carbohydrate content (Pandey et al., 2000). Also, it is found that the
extracted by computing the number of pixels representing the
total porosity was increased significantly (p  0.001) when adding
crack lengths as follows: first, select the lines of each crack pattern
bagasse (Taha et al., 2014). The effect of sugarcane pith on water
with avoiding the common lines between each other by using the
retention at field capacity (FC) is shown in (Fig. 3). The 3, 4, and 5%
freehand selection function. Second, measure the length of the
soil-pith mixture treatments showed the highest values of 41.6%.
selected lines by using the main tool “Edit”, then the command
The 0, 1 and 2% soil-pith mixture treatments showed the lowest
“selection”, and the subcommand “Area to Line”, followed by the
values of 37.6, 38.72 and 39.4%, respectively. The FC is highly
command “Measure” from the main tool “Analysis”. Third, the final
correlated with sugarcane pith content (R2 = 0.89). Moreover, the
total length is the sum of all selected lines for all the crack patterns.
statistical analysis showed that there were no significant differ-
Finally, the crack width (CW), defined as the ratio of the surface
ences between the 3, 4, and 5% soil-pith mixture treatments.
crack area (As) and the crack length (CL), was computed by the
However, the FC increased with the 3, 4 and 5% soil-pith mixture
following Eq. (4):
treatments by about 4% in comparison to the control treatment.
CW (mm) = [As (cm2)/CL (cm)]  10 (4) The increase of FC could be attributed to the nature of sugarcane
pith with its soft fibers as organic materials decomposed during
the first thirty days with about 35% (Cifuentes et al., 2013; Rolz
2.5. Statistical analysis
et al., 2010). This results in a release of cementing substances such
as a positively charged ion i.e., iron, calcium, potassium, zinc,
The data were analyzed statistically using MSTATCTM version
manganese and copper (Hughes and Girdlestone, 2001; Rani et al.,
2.0. The one-way ANOVA test was used to determine statistically
2012; Carroll and Hopkins, 2014), in addition to various other
significant differences among five different sugarcane pith
percentages (one independent variable with five levels and five
replicates) and percent of total porosity, water content at field
capacity, volumetric shrinkage strain, surface crack ratio, and crack
width after each addition to clayey soil (dependent variable) at the
5% level. The significant differences between means were tested
using Tukey's HSD (Honestly Significant Difference).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effects of sugarcane pith on Tp and FC

The degree to which the total soil porosity values increased

with the sugarcane pith additions varied among the soil-pith
mixture treatments (Fig. 2). The total porosity percentage of the
control treatment (not treated soil) was 54.32%. The increase in
Fig. 3. The relationship between percent of water retained at field capacity (FC) and
porosity percentage compared to the control treatment was 0.36, sugarcane pith percentage; error bar is denotes the standard deviation; the small
1.68 and 3.68% for the 1, 2 and 3% soil-pith mixture treatments, different letters (a, b, c and d) are denoting a significant difference between mean
values (Tukey’s test, p  0.001).
142 A.A. Abd El-Halim / Soil & Tillage Research 169 (2017) 138–145
chemicals, especially certain organic compounds such as poly-
saccharides, which helps attract soil particles and increase soil
aggregation. Consequently the result is increasing porosity and
water holding by adhesive and cohesive forces. In this regard, when
organic materials decayed, cementing agent will increase soil
aggregation process, and thereby, increase the total porosity and
water holding capacity (Tester, 1990; Asher et al., 2002). Based on
the fact that the sugarcane pith is part of sugarcane bagasse and
has the same effect, the addition of bagasse to clay soil was the
most effective method to increase both total soil porosity and soil
moisture (Ali and Adam, 2003; Taha et al., 2014). Also, addition of
bagasse to sandy soils, led to increased soil aggregation, and
consequently, generated more pores that can hold plant-available
water (Abd El-Halim and Arunsiri, 2015; Pruangka et al., 2012).
3.2. Effects of sugarcane pith on Vs strain
The changes in the volumetric shrinkage strain (Vs) based on
the percentage of sugarcane pith are illustrated in (Fig. 4). The
results show that there was a high correlation between the
sugarcane pith content and theVs strain (R2 = 0.98). In addition,
there were marked differences (p  0.001) in theVs strain between
the natural soil and other soil-pith mixture treatments, which
ranged from 41.4% with the control treatment to 36.4% with the 5%
soil-pith mixture treatment. TheVs strain observed for the control
treatment was higher than that for the 1 and 2% soil-pith mixture
treatments by about 1.3 and 3.3%, respectively. It was also higher
than that for the 3, 4 and 5% soil-pith mixture treatments by about
5%. There were no significant differences between the 3, 4 and 5%
soil-pith mixture treatments. This result suggests that the
optimum application rate of sugarcane pith to improve the soil
shrinkage strain was 3%. This could be due to the increase of
sugarcane pith leading to stable soil structure by rearranging its
particles and the structural units. The new rearrangement
structure can help to minimize the external work, consequently
resist the high suctions that can be developed during drying. In
other words, increasing the soil-pith surface interactions results in
a matrix that binds soil particles and effectively resists tensile
stresses produced by shrinking. Resistance to shrinkage is mainly
attributed to cohesion at the soil-pith interfaces. The same results
were reported with the addition of polypropylene fibers to clay
soils (Abdi et al., 2008; Puppala and Musenda, 2000). Also, mixing
the soil with fiber can reduce the shrinkage strain up to 90% and
increase strength of soil up to 70% (Kumar et al., 2006). Moreover,
the reduction of the volumetric shrinkage strain with the increase
of sugarcane pith content could be interpreted by increasing the
total porosity or void ratio, where the lower the shrinkage is the
Fig. 4. The relationship between volumetric shrinkage strain (Vs) and sugarcane
pith percentage; error bar is denotes the standard deviation; the small different
letters (a, b and c) are denoting a significant difference between mean values
(Tukey’s test, p  0.001).
more the flocculation in soil structure occurs in the presence of
sugarcane pith. Indeed, the mixture that has greater sugarcane pith
content reduces amplitude and shrinking strain, through absorb-
ing much of this shrinking by voids formed between aggregates
due to the sugarcane pith-clay particle bonds or pith–pith particle
bonds (Deb and Pal, 2014). Moreover, although the water content
retained at field capacity for the clay soils mixed with high
percentages of the sugarcane pith was high in comparison with the
unamended soil, the shrinkage strain values were still low because
of the presence of spongy pith fibers. These natural fibers provide
shrinkage resistance to unamended soil. Similar results were
reported on the addition of biosolids compost containing wood-
chips fibers to clay soils (Anand Puppala et al., 2006). The
insignificant differences between the soil-pith mixture treatments
that have more sugarcane pith content could be interpreted by the
fact that sugarcane pith is normally inert or filler material with low
plasticity index, which helped to improve the shrinkage character-
istics with drying (Maulood, 2015). Thus, the numbers of bonds
between the clay particles are reduced with bonds increase
between the sugarcane pith and the clay particles or between the
particles, of sugarcane pith and each other. Due to this change, soils
blended with high percentages of sugarcane pith changed from the
high plasticity clay group to the low plasticity clay group. In this
context, the potential of organic materials to reduce the plasticity
index, and consequently, shrinkage characteristic of clay soil has
been indicated (Anand Puppala et al., 2006 Abd El-Halim and El
Baroudy, 2014). In addition, mixing of unshrinkable and cohesion-
less material with silty-clay soil can decrease the tendency of the
mixed samples to shrink (Deb and Pal, 2014).
3.3. Effects of sugarcane pith on the changes of water content with
elapsed drying time and the cracking characteristics
Fig. 5 presents the changes of water content of different soil-
pith mixture treatments with elapsed drying time. As can be seen,
upon drying, water content decreased linearly at the initial drying
stage (up to 12 days). After about 12 days later, the decrease of
water content slowed down gradually (up to 24 days) and finally
stabilized at a residual water content of approximately 13% (as an
average for all treatments). Also, the results showed that the 0, 1
and 2% soil-pith mixture treatments were exposed to rapid
desiccation, especially, at the initial drying stage, whereas the 3, 4
and 5% soil-pith mixture treatments were exposed to slow
desiccation. On the other hand, the typical crack pattern for all
treatments indicates that all specimen surfaces were split to
separate clods by the crack networks (Fig. 6). The shapes of the
clods are relatively regular and most of the clods are close to four
types of polygons: triangle, quadrangle, square (dominant) and
Fig. 5. Changes of water content of different soil-pith mixture treatments with
elapsed drying time.
 A.A. Abd El-Halim / Soil & Tillage Research 169 (2017) 138–145
Fig. 6. Typical crack patterns of the soil-pith mixture treatments after drying
period.
pentagon. The crack segments are almost perpendicular to each
other and the intersection angles are generally equal to 90 . The
intersection points of the cracks are likely to form “T” and “+”
shapes. Also, the results showed that the geometric and
morphological characteristics of the crack patterns for the control
treatment (not treated soil) and for the 1 and 2% soil-pith mixture
treatments are similar to each other; similarly for the 3, 4 and 5%
soil-pith mixture treatments. This observation is consistent with
the quantitative results of the geometric parameters of surface
crack ratio (RSC, Fig. 7) and the crack width (CW, Fig. 8). It was
observed that there was a reduction in the development of
desiccation cracks by increasing the sugarcane pith content, where
the surface crack ratio (RSC) was reduced by about 8.29, 8.47, 17.42,
20.30 and 20.84% with the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% soil-pith mixture
treatments, respectively, as compared to the control treatment.
The CW with the 1 and 2% soil-pith mixture treatments were
reduced by about 7.66 and 16.24%, while with the 3, 4 and 5% soil-
pith mixture treatments it was increased by about 9.45, 24.52 and
25.17% compared to the control treatment, respectively. In
addition, the statistical analysis of the RSC indicated that there
were differences (p  0.001) between the control treatment and
the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% soil-pith mixture treatments. However, there
were no significant differences between the control treatment and
the 1 and 2% soil-pith mixture treatments. Similarly, there were no
significant differences between the 3, 4 and 5% soil-pith mixture
treatments. Overall, it can be concluded that the soil-pith mixture
Fig. 7. The relationship between surface crack ratio (RSC) and sugarcane pith
percentage; error bar is denotes the standard deviation; the small different letters
(a & b) are denoting a significant difference between mean values (Tukey’s test,
p  0.001).
143
Fig. 8. The relationship between crack width (CW) and sugarcane pith percentage;
error bar is denotes the standard deviation; the small different letters (a, b, c and d)
are denoting a significant difference between mean values (Tukey’s test, p  0.001).
treatments reveal less cracking than the untreated soil. This is
attributed to the presence of spongy pith fibers. These fibers act
like reinforcements which can withstand tensile forces generated
from drying of the soil. Similar results were reported due to the
addition of biosolids compost that contains woodchips fibers to
clay soil (Anand Puppala et al., 2006). In addition, “the area of
cracks generated after a desiccation process decreased by seven
percent in clay soil amended with composted sewage sludge”
(Aguilar et al., 2004). Based on the obtained values of RSC and CW,
it can be deduced that sugarcane pith was effective in mitigating
the amount of desiccation cracking that occurred in the untreated
clayey soil sample. It was found that sugarcane pith mitigated the
development of desiccation cracks and formed a network of
narrow thin cracks, especially in the clayey soil samples containing
sugarcane pith at rates of up to 2%. Although the clayey soil
samples containing more than 2% pith were effective in mitigating
the development of desiccation cracks, they formed a network of
wide spaced cracks. That type of cracks is more effective in
reducing soil hydraulic performance, i.e., have a bad effect on the
water movement in soil, and specifically, the geometric structure
of these cracks can change the migration process of soil moisture
and nutrients, leading to water and nutrient stress, and thus can
significantly affect the growth and yield of crops (Römkens and
Prasad, 2006). This could be attributed to the addition of sugarcane
pith by rates over 2%, leading to an increase in water retained, and
helping the soil to control moisture fluctuations during the drying
period, and consequently, slowing desiccation. The result was a
lower volumetric shrinkage strain, associated with mitigation of
cracks that were widely spaced. This finding corresponds to “the
shallow closely spaced cracks are commonly observed on clay
surfaces owing to rapid desiccation after a heavy rain, while deeper
cracks, widely spaced, are normally associated with slow desicca-
tion” (Kodikara et al., 2002). Also, this result supports the finding
by Tang et al. (2012), that “in clay soils, higher RSC corresponds to
higher soil shrinkage”. In addition, our results confirm that “the RSC
was varied with the number of cracks per area, where treatments
with the higher number of cracks per area were the higher RSC
values, but the opposite was found in the case of CW values”
(Atique and Sanchez, 2011). Moreover, under field conditions, “the
biosolids compost amendments provided the best subsoil
enhancements by controlling moisture and temperature fluctua-
tions from the high temperature environment, thereby reducing
shrinkage cracks in the subsoil and in the adjacent paved highway
shoulders” (Intharasombat et al., 2007). Also, besides the above
explanations, the decrease of RSC observed in clay soils amended
with a high percentage of sugarcane pith could be attributed to the
increase of the total soil porosity or void ratio. Similar results
144 A.A. Abd El-Halim / Soil & Tillage Research 169 (2017) 138–145
reported by “the decrease of the RSC is accompanied by the increase
of void ratio” (Tang et al., 2012).
4. Conclusions
In this study the effect of sugarcane pith added to clayey soil for
mitigating desiccation cracks and the factors influencing the
cracking behavior, such as volumetric shrinkage and percent of
water retention at field capacity were investigated experimentally
under laboratory conditions. The results indicated that the
sugarcane pith led to beneficial changes in the properties of
clayey soil i.e., increased water retention at field capacity, reduced
volumetric shrinkage strain, and reduced surface crack ratio. Also,
the results showed that sugarcane pith led to mitigate the
development of desiccation cracks and formed a network of
narrow thin cracks, especially with the clayey soil samples that
contained the sugarcane pith at rates of up to 2%. Although the
clayey soil samples containing rates above 2% were effective in
mitigating the development of desiccation cracks, they formed a
network of wide spaced cracks. That type of cracks is more
effective in reducing soil hydraulic performance. Specifically, the
geometric structure of these cracks can change the migration
process of soil moisture and nutrients, leading to water and
nutrient stress, and thus can significantly affect the growth and
yield of crops. Therefore, it is concluded that the modification of
clayey soil by the addition of the sugarcane pith with rates of up to
2% on dry weight basis can be a viable and innovative method to
mitigate the development of desiccation cracks without affecting
negatively the growth and yield of crops. In addition, this
application will enhance recycling efforts by converting sugarcane
pith waste into usable amendment to mitigate clayey soil cracks.
However, it is worth to mention that this study was conducted in
the laboratory under controlled conditions with a high homoge-
neity of mixing the sugarcane pith with the clayey soils. Therefore,
future work should investigate the effects of sugarcane pith
amendments in field trials on a wide range of clayey soils,
considering the results of this study.
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